Romero (16 page)

“I never noticed how bad it was. When I was younger, it used to piss me off when they got dirty looks from people in public places.”

They walked into her apartment. As usual, Valerie wasn’t home—probably with Alex again. They went straight to her bedroom. He wasn’t spending the night, just saying goodnight. And showing her how much he appreciated that she hadn’t run away after meeting his family.

***

Isabel waited several days to bring up what she was hoping Romero would bring up on his own. They sat on the sofa in his apartment getting ready to watch a movie they’d rented. “Are you
ever
gonna tell me about your dad?”

Romero looked up from the back of the DVD case he’d been reading and shrugged. “He’s been in jail most of my life. I don’t know much about him, so there’s not much to tell.”

“What’s he in jail for?” She hated talking to him about things that wiped the eternal humor off his face. But this was something she knew had to be important to him even though he didn’t want to admit it. She’d heard it in his voice, seen it in his face the day he snapped at his uncle when he brought up his dad. She wanted him to be able to share not just the good, but the bad with her as well.

“Drugs—first trafficking, then his stupid ass finally gets out and he gets thrown back in just a few months later for possession.”

She took his hand and kissed his knuckles one by one in an attempt to soothe him. He was suddenly so tense. “How long is he in for?”

He sat back. “Lets see.” He counted on his fingers. “Wow, he’s already done five years. So I don’t know, maybe another three or four years if he doesn’t keep fucking up. They almost tacked on another five ‘cause he beat the shit outta someone in there. The guy nearly died. My uncles say it’s what got him in so much trouble growing up. His fucking temper—”

“You’re doing it again.” She rubbed his hand and tilted her head. “Cuss mode.”

“Well then lets not talk about him anymore.” He stood up and walked to the DVD player. “Because I don’t think I
can
without cussing.”

“Okay, what about your grandma, tell me about her.”

He turned to look at her. The smile was back. Isabel was so relieved. “Oh, she was the bomb. I never knew my mom. From what I’m told she was one of the druggies my dad sold to. So when she had me the state immediately gave custody to my grandmother since my dad was in jail, and she raised me. Well, her and my uncles, but I always felt like my uncles were my much older brothers, especially because they’d get scolded as often as I did.” He laughed. “Believe it or not, she hated it when we cussed. So you
know
we heard it a lot. But she said my grandpa was worse than all of us. That’s where my uncles got it from.”

After putting the DVD in the machine he walked back, remote in hand and sat down next to Isabel. He filled her in on his childhood with his grandma, laughing all the while. She was glad to hear that her passing wasn’t too excruciating for him. Alzheimer’s took her life when he was in the eleventh grade, while hard, he said it had been more of a relief since she’d been sick for years.

“Manny took it bad. He talks all tough, but the guy’s not afraid to cry.” Romero shook his head. “He was a mess at the funeral.”

To Isabel’s surprise, a smile spread across Romero’s face. “He’s not just emotional about sad things either. He cried at his own wedding,” Romero chuckled. “And most of my graduations or any picture-worthy milestones.”

Isabel thought of her own dad and how cold and indifferent he’d always been. Romero’s uncles weren’t without their flaws but one thing she noticed right away was the way his uncle spoke of Romero. He seemed to rejoice in telling all those stories of him growing up. Each one he told was as if it happened just yesterday. All the funny things Romero had done over the years were still with him and she could almost feel just how much he’d enjoyed them. Even if the stories were mostly of Romero being a
knucklehead
, he obviously cherished the memories.

She leaned into Romero. “I like your uncles.”

He pulled away to look at her. “You do?”

She smiled knowing how apprehensive he’d been the night she met them. He literally froze when his uncle brought up what happened at the bar. “Yes, I do. But tell me,” she grinned. “Is their bar a stripper bar?”

She saw the surprise in his eyes. “Not a stripper bar but… the waitresses go topless.” She could see he waited for her reaction.

“I had a feeling it was something like that.” She looked straight into his eyes. “Just like you said before, so your uncles are a little rough around the edges. And reading up a little on what Ms. Manners has to say about dinner etiquette and the overkill of the F bomb wouldn’t do them any harm.” She laughed. “It might do them some good but they’re good guys. They love you and
that
alone will make
me
love
them
. Don’t worry about me judging them for the type of business they run or their mannerisms, okay? I’m not my sister. Please remember that.”

Isabel laughed. “I’m
am
not.”

“Yes. You
are
.” Romero threw the remote on the floor and attacked her. The movie would have to wait until later.

As it turned out Valerie came back only a handful of times to pick up more of her things. The girl had had the worst luck with guys during the time she’d stayed away from Alex. A nightmare ex-flame from her past came back to haunt her just as she and Alex were trying to make things work. He turned out to be a stalker of the worst kind, but when the chaos he ensued was all said and done he’d been arrested and to everyone’s surprise, Valerie and Alex were married on a whim in Bermuda.

Isabel couldn’t be happier for her and didn’t even care that she’d be left holding the bill on Valerie’s end of the lease. But Valerie had been adamant about paying her half still until the end of the lease was up. With Valerie gone now, Romero was at Isabel’s place more and more. She liked it that way, but Pat was still at it, putting in her jabs about him.

“Well, he was over here last night and after talking to Charles he decided to do it. Charles is going to have a dinner to announce it on the base and invite all the influential people he knows—and he knows a lot. This is so exciting. We’re getting it all together as fast as we can. The dinner is two nights from today. Gina’s flying in and Art already said he’d be there, too.”

Isabel frowned. Her sister probably had Charles working fast and furiously before her Dad could change his mind. The last time she’d spoken with her dad he had his reservations about running. He wasn’t sure if he was up for all the campaigning. But she should’ve known her sister would stop at nothing to get the chance to say her father was the mayor of San Diego. “Are you sure he really wants to do this, Pat? He didn’t sound too enthused about it when I spoke to him last.”

“Of course he does. He was just getting cold feet, but with Charles and me helping him, he’ll be fine. You will be able to make it right?”

“Umm you may want to come alone because, we’re having speakers and presentations and stuff. I’ll need you to help me make sure everything runs smoothly. Then there’s the family photo ops. The local papers will be there. They might even want to interview you or take statements. You’re really not gonna have time to entertain anyone.”

Isabel scooped the scrambled eggs onto two plates. “He’s coming with me, Pat.” Unless he
couldn’t
go for whatever reason. Pat was crazy if she thought Isabel was going to allow her to continue dictating her life. Romero meant everything to her now and she’d be damned if she was going to make the same mistake twice.

“Isabel, can you think of Daddy for a second here? Art is coming alone.”

“He is?” That surprised Isabel. The last time she spoke with Art he said he didn’t give a shit what Patricia had to say about Sabrina anymore.

“Yes,
he
knows how important it is that this be perfect for Daddy.”

Isabel rolled her eyes. “And how would bringing Sabrina make it
not
perfect?”

“Do we really need to get into that?”

Romero walked into the kitchen. He kissed Isabel then poured himself some coffee. “I’m gonna have breakfast now. Tell Daddy I’ll be there Wednesday.”

Setting her phone down she grabbed her plate off the counter and she sat down next to Romero, but not before planting a big one on him.

“Where you going Wednesday?”

“My dad is running for Mayor, after all. They’ll be announcing it Wednesday night at a dinner on the Navy base. You think you can make it?”

Romero stopped chewing and stared at her. He still hadn’t met her father. Because he was also in Alex’s brother’s wedding, the wedding and the events leading up to it had taken up a lot of their weekends, these past several weeks. And since his business had picked up so much work he’d been really busy lately. But she knew Romero wasn’t anxious to meet him. “I have something going on late Wednesday afternoon. What time’s the dinner?”

“I don’t have all the details yet but she’s calling me back tonight.”

“I thought you said your dad didn’t wanna run?”

Isabel got up and poured herself some milk. “He said he wasn’t so sure he wanted to. But I guess he changed his mind.” She wouldn’t tell him she knew Pat was behind it all. He had enough reason to dislike her sister. She’d begun to notice how when Romero was bothered by something he’d stare off into space. He was doing it now. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” He was obviously surprised that she noticed. “I just got a busy day today.”

Isabel was actually looking at a day off. The district was making so many cuts lately they kept adding
collaboration
days to the school calendar. She got the day off but, of course, she didn’t get paid for it. “Where are you working today?”

“I just signed a contract with the uniform distributor. They have several factories; they want us to drop in and do a surprise security inspection. Make sure they’re covering everything the way they’re supposed to, then I gotta meet with some dude that wants his girl followed around. He thinks she’s cheating.” He shrugged. “It’s crazy how many people out there
think
their partners are fooling around. How do you
think
someone is cheating on you?”

The question confused Isabel. “Why not? If she’s done something questionable or he’s noticed something different about her lately.”

“Exactly. If you think it so much you’re willing to hire someone to find out, you already know.” He drank some of his coffee and continued. “You’re just in denial, holding on to the miniscule hope that you’re wrong.”

“That’s not fair though. Everyone deserves the benefit of the doubt. Their partner could just be having a bad week—month.”

Romero shook his head. “I’ve yet to prove even one of these clients that thought their spouses or partners were cheating, wrong. I actually feel bad taking their money just to tell them something they already knew.” His expression went suddenly hard. “I think I’d know.”

In the relatively short time she’d known Romero, she’d seen that lethal expression several times now. Most memorably, the morning of Michael’s call. She touched his hard arm. “I’ve always been a firm believer that cheating is inexcusable. I’ve seen it so many times on television and even read articles of people trying to justify it. I was lonely, felt neglected, my partner treated me badly—it’s all B.S. If you’re not happy and there’s no working things out, you leave. Plain and simple, you don’t sneak around. I just don’t see the point. If someone else makes you happier, then you do the right thing and end the relationship you’re in.” She leaned in closer to his face that had somewhat relaxed a little. “So you’d never have to worry about me cheating, my love.” She kissed him. “And if you keep me as happy as I feel now, I don’t see how anyone else could
ever
make me happier.”

He finally smiled. “I don’t think it’s something I ever wanna think about.” He kissed her longer than she did then stood up. “I gotta go. What are your plans today?”

“Clean and grade some papers.”

Romero glanced around with a smirk. “Clean what?” he laughed. “This place is spotless.”

Isabel smiled, picking up her plate and glass from the table. “I’m cleaning out the fridge and the restroom could use a good scrubbing.”

After putting his watch on and grabbing his keys off the counter he walked over to Isabel and pulled her to him by the waist, kissing her like only he could. “My perfect, Izzy,” he whispered.

“Will you stop saying that?” She giggled. “God are you ever gonna be disappointed when you find out I’m not.”

“Yes, you are. And you could never disappoint me.” He patted her behind then let her go. “I’ll see you tonight.”